Episodes

This week’s podcast – spanning both the Cinema and Contemporary Music programme – delves into the musical world of the cult director’s compelling cinematic oeuvre, from whiskey-soaked Tom Waits to John Lurie’s No Wave Sax. Ahead of the Jim Jarmusch Revisited show here in September 2017 (http://bit.ly/2g7X2v9), we talk to musical fans including Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos, David Coulter, Camille O’Sullivan, Mulatu Astatke, Jolie Holland and also to the journalist Karen Krizanovich.

Ahead of our Julius Eastman Memorial Dinner gig with Jace Clayton (AKA DJ/Rupture) we look into the saga of this most interesting of composers – a minimalist master and contemporary of Feldman and Cage – who died destitute and with many of his scores lost.

Following the release of his autobiographical 50 Song Memoir (with a song dedicated to each year of his life so far) and the live performance coming up in September, the idiosyncratic singer-songwriter talks to us about his music and his process.

We speak to the legendary techno producer/composer, the founder of Underground Resistance, a recent recipient of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and probably one of the most influential electronic musicians of all time. Jeff takes up residency at the Barbican in June 2017, with From Here to There – a series of live music, film and dance experiences looking at themes of sci-fi: http://bit.ly/2rJidIB

The Northumbrian folk group unearth the wistful work of Molly Drake – Nick’s mother – who wrote and recorded a series of poems and songs on a tape set-up in the family home, which the group have re-worked and recorded.

We delve into the four-hour minimalist masterpiece – one of the undoubted milestones of contemporary classical music – with three of the first musicians outside the Philip Glass Ensemble whom the composer has permitted to perform the piece: Bedroom Community pianist and organist James McVinnie, composer Timo Andres and pianist Eliza McCarthy.

To celebrate the 88th Day of the year and Nils Frahm’s international celebration of the piano, we get under the lid with piano-tuner-to-the-stars Ulrich Gerhartz to look at the science of the instrument, and also members of Piano Circus, James Young and Dawn Hardwick, and composer Angus MacRae.

Narrated by Kate Adie, and featuring a soundtrack by Field Music and Warm Digits, Esther Johnson’s moving documentary Asunder captures one city’s experience of the First World War – not through grisly images of war, but through the real stories of people who lived there. We chat to Warm Digits’ Andrew Hodson about working with Field Music on composing for the film.

Ahead of Alive! at the Barbican – a show that sees Steve Mason perform new arrangements of his music with an expanded ensemble, we chat to the singer and songwriter about the various twists and turns of his career.

We talk to Jóhann Jóhannsson about his fascination with film, and love of the voice as an instrument The Icelandic composer behind the brooding and beautiful scores for Arrival, Sicario and The Theory of Everything, Jóhann Jóhannsson blends elements of Classical music and electronica into something wholly his own. In this week’s edition of the Barbican Contemporay Music Podcast, we chat to the composer about Jean Cocteau, composing for film, and his interest in the voice as an instrument,...

40 years after their creation, we chat to composer Michael Nyman about his upcoming performance with his band - charting the journey from their inception, to their stunning soundtrack work for 'The Draughtman’s Contract', 'Prospero’s Books' and more, through to present day.

The graphic novel may be an important part of popular culture today, given the same weight and gravitas as literary fiction or film, but it wasn’t always that way. On Friday 11 November, Art Spiegelmen, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece ‘Maus’ and saxophonist Philip Johnston bring Wordless! to the Barbican - their show that takes you through the history of the graphic novel. Discussing how their collaboration came about, and enthusing about their love for Jazz and comics, we...

In 1976, Geoff Travis started a shop that would change the face of music in the UK. 40 years on, we take a look back at the history of Rough Trade, speaking to John Grant and Stephen Mallinder (Cabaret Voltaire / Wrangler) about what Rough Trade means to them, and their upcoming collaboration as part of the Rough Trade at 40 series of shows.

A tale of love affairs, bank robberies and consumerism in the American Mid-west, Robert Ashley’s made-for-TV opera Perfect Lives combined Minimalist composition with synths and oddly syncopated spoken word. Performing excerpts from the opera, electronic duo Matmos share their love for the eccentric composer praised by the likes of John Cage and Laurie Anderson.

A deserted landscape, memories of a fatal crash, a book written by a dying explorer – 'Dear Esther' is part of a new wave of videogames that redefines what they can do, proving videogames are capable of the same musical, narrative and artistic expression as film or literature. This week, we chat to composer Jessica Curry, who wrote the game’s soaring score, ahead of the first ever live performance of 'Dear Esther' at Milton Court Concert Hall on Friday 14 October.

In contrast to the rapid rise and fall of most artists today that the Internet hype machine dictates, duo Stars of the Lid's transition from relative obscurity to being of the most important ambient acts since Brian Eno's heyday has been, much like their music, patient. This week, we chat to Adam Wiltzie about the history of the band, and their upcoming Barbican performance as part of Transcender Festival.